An Odd Place Called Eureka
by Shathar
Summary: "I'm wondering why StarGate Command has never been informed of the existence of an Ancient artifact, type unknown, being in the control of the US government in something called Section 5?"
1. Chapter 1

"I need a 334 BR9 form. No, a 343 BR9 form. No, wait. A 334 DR6 form." General O'Neill rubbed his forehead and sighed, ear to the receiver of his desk phone. He scowled at the voice on the other end and replied,

"No, I don't want to claim a tax exemption for hosting an federal agricultural event on my ranch! I want to release certain classified materials to a small group of people." Another pause, then, "Stop. I don't care. Just find me the forms and get them in here." O'Neill slammed the receiver down. Working in the Homeworld Security headquarters had considerable advantages but he had come to realize that with each one there was a corresponding exponential increase in paperwork. Apparently the Universe had to balance out a great parking spot somehow. It was times like these that he wished he could simply 'zat his problems away. Those had been the days.

O'Neil picked up the top photograph off the stack and examined it again. The object looked Ancient. O'Neill picked up his receiver and typed a number from memory.

"Yeah, this is O'Neil. I'm looking at a very interesting file here having to do with a little place called Eureka and I'm wondering why StarGate Command has never been informed of the existence of an Ancient artifact, type unknown, being in the control of the US government in something called 'Section 5'?" He listened for a moment,

"Wait. You're telling me that you kept this under wraps for years because you wanted to see what someone with an outside perspective could do with it? Of all the..." He paused, then continued, "Well, I'm clearing a group in Eureka for access to STC files and sending a team up there to check this out." Another pause, then, "Good thing I don't need your permission then, isn't it?" Dropping the receiver back into the cradle he picked up a stack of papers out of the file and continued to read.

* * *

Elizabeth Weir, head of the Atlantis expedition, entered the briefing room and took a seat at the head of the table.

"Looks like everyone is here, so let's get started." She turned to Carson Beckett, Atlantis's Chief Medical Officer, and said, "First things first. What is the prognosis for Teyla's knee?"

Beckett's forehead wrinkled as he replied, "Not as good as I'd originally hoped. She's going to be grounded for at least 6 weeks, maybe longer. She has a small rip in her ACL and there's a lot of swelling."

Colonel John Sheppard winced and said, "Ouch."

Beckett nodded, "Aye. She'll not be putting much weight on it for a bit."

Weir straightened the papers on her desk and said, "As much as I hate the fact she is injured, it does make this easier." She looked at Shepard, "Colonel, your team is on a 6 week stand down."

Shepard's eyes widened and he said, "Well, it'll be tough not having her along but there's no need for us to stand down. I can always rotate through some of the Marines, give them some off-world training."

Weir shook her head, "No, in my last communication with StarGate command I received orders to send some personal through to earth and I hadn't decided who yet. I wanted to send you and Rodney, you two are the most qualified, but I thought the work you've been doing off-world was more important. This handles my dilemma."

Rodney McKay stopped typing and looked up from his laptop, "What? Why does the SGC want us?"

Weir shook her head, "This really isn't the place to get into it. But they sent me very specific directions on what they wanted. So, I'll be sending you and the Colonel, probably in a day or two. So, make sure you don't have any projects started that you can't leave."

McKay started to protest, but Shepard cut him off, "No problem. Right Rodney?" Rodney's brow lowered and he opened his mouth just as John said, "Good. No problems then." He turned to Beckett and said, "How long will Teyla be in the infirmary?"

"Just another day or two, then I'll release her with some crutches. I already talked to the lass about it and I think she's going to ask Elizabeth about going to the mainland for a few weeks while her leg heals."

Weir answered, "That will be fine, if you're sure she'll be ok?"

Beckett answered, "Aye, Teyla knows how to follow instructions to take it easy." He looked straight at McKay and continued, Unlike other personal on her team."

McKay got a hurt look on his face and said, "Please. Can you lay off on the guilt-trip yet? I really felt..."

Weir cut in, "Regardless," paused a beat, then counted, "as long as Carson clears her I have no problem with her going over to the mainland."

Weir looked to Ronan Dex but before she could say anything he spoke. "Take it I'm not going?"

She paused, then shook her head. "I don't think I'll be able to get a security clearance through."

Dex shrugged, "Fine. Sheppard had asked me to put the new military personal through some extended training." He smiled.

Sheppard gave him a small smile and said, "Just make sure they're not too bad off to defend Atlantis if something happens." Dex grunted and nodded. Weir looked between the two of them, then turned towards John,

"I'll meet with you and Rodney in my office after we get through here to discuss the details." John grinned,

"Yes ma'am."

"Now," Elizabeth continued, "There's the matter of energy consumption spiking rather badly several nights last week..."

Later that day, Sheppard and McKay walked into Weir's office and took the seats in front of her desk. She closed the doors with a push on a button on her desk and smiled at McKay.

"Don't look so depressed Rodney. You're not being punished."

He scowled and said, "If we're going to be down for 6 weeks that gives me time to catch up on some research that keeps getting pushed aside, what with me having to save everyone's lives every other day."

John raised an eyebrow, "But just think, if you didn't then you would miss me something terrible."

"Yeah, right. No one dragging me ino dangerous, germ-infested cesspools of worlds where the locals would love nothing more than to eat me for dinner. Yes, I'm sure I would miss that terribly." McKay rolled his eyes.

Weir cleared her throat and both men sat back and looked at her. She said, "General O'Neil needs me to send two personal through for an assignment. It has recently come to his attention that there is a potential Ancient artifact in the possession on the United States government and wants someone to check it out. He wants someone with the technical knowledge to get a positive identification, and someone with a strong, natural, Ancient gene to try and control it."

Sheppard's brow wrinkled a bit and he said, "Why doesn't someone from the SGC go? I know they have personnal that are as qualified as we are." Weir nodded,

"True. However, everyone who's security clearance is high enough to enter the facility where it is being held is busy with the Ori. Plus, we've had a lot more direct experience with Ancient devices."

McKay nodded, "Where is it? What does it look like? Why..."

Weir cut him off, "You'll have a full briefing once you get to Earth. But it's being held in a facility called Eureka..."

McKay's head snapped up, "Eureka? Little town in the middle of nowhere Eureka?"

Weir glanced at her computer screen. "Yes, something like that. Have you heard of it before?"

"I've been there. It was years ago, before I started working with the StarGate program." He paused and stared off at the far wall. After a moment Sheppard cleared his throat. McKay started, and said, "Odd place."

Sheppard laughed, "You live in a mythical city who's designers have turned into energy beings and you are calling a town on Earth odd?"

McKay nodded. "Yes," he said, "I am. But how did they get an Ancient device? They're more into the inventing devices department."

Weir shook her head, 'I wouldn't know. My briefing was rather slim, but I'm sure you'll get all the details once you get to Earth."

Sheppard was still mulling over McKay's last response. He looked at McKay and said, "Odd? How odd?"

McKay looked back at him and replied, "Most of the personal would fit in around here."

Sheppard laughed and said, "Well, this should be interesting."

Weir raised her eyebrow and cocked her head, "I believe that's all..." Sheppard shrugged and looked at McKay, who was staring off into space again. Weir shook her head and smiled, "I'll put in the call to see when they want you. Until then, enjoy your time off. You're dismissed." Her door slid open at the touch of a button and both men left.

* * *

Nathan Stark, head of Global Dynamic, swore under his breath as he put his phone down. Steepling his fingers and frowning he stared off across his office in thought. His brief conversation with a Major Davis in Washington had been cryptic, at best. But the entire Department of Homeworld Security was secretive, a shadow hidden under Homeland Security. Stark wasn't entirely sure what they did over there, and really didn't care. Eureka was enough to keep him busy. However, he was confident that a good bit of the military applications leaving Eureka that seemed to vanish immediately thereafter ended up in that department. Still, not his problem. Well, not until now.

Now someone in that department had decided that section 5 wasn't moving fast enough and was sending in a few of their own "experts" from the military to examine the project. Stark swore again. By the time they got through poking into things they would either set back research at least a year or kill themselves. Possibly both. Not that the second option was entirely unpleasant, but the mess of someone dying was always a nuisance and the paperwork and safety oversight boards would make life a living hell for months. Plus it would give Carter a chance to poke his nose in where it didn't belong. Again. No, he had to keep them alive and intact and away from anything valuable. Hopefully they would come and stare at it for a few minutes, look at the basic database of useless information, kept especially for these situations, and leave. All in a very short time. He could only hope.

Well, at least he wouldn't have to deal with them. Leaning over he pushed his intercom button,

"Fargo, get in here now." Less than a minute later his door slid open behind him. "I have a job for you"

Fargo looked up and shifted his weight to his left foot, "What?"

"We're going to be having some... guests. From the military. I want you to keep them out of my way. Pick them up at the airstrip, get them lost, take them on a tour, whatever you have to do."

Fargo shifted to his right and bit down on his lip, then said, "Why are th..."

Stark cut him off, "It really doesn't matter, does it?" Fargo shifted back and shook his head.

Stark continued, "If they make a big fuss bring them up here, but warn me first. And don't tell them anything." Stark spun his chair around and gave Fargo a cool stare. Then said, "do you understand me?"

Fargo nodded and shifted back to the right as he said, "Yes. Completely. I'll handle everything."

Stark continued to stare at him for a minute, then turned back to look out his window. Fargo looked around and chewed on his lip, then jumped when Stark said, "Leave. Now." Fargo nodded even more vigorously and turned toward the door, Just as it slid open Stark said, "And Fargo..."

"Yes?"

"Quit fidgeting."


	2. Chapter 2

Sheppard walked toward the gate-room with a duffel bag over his shoulder, a hot cup of coffee in his left hand and a a stack of paperwork in his right. He scanned the top page as he wove between various expedition members hurrying past him and in and out of doorways. There was a mumbled greeting to those who spoke to him, but his eyes didn't leave the page until he smacked into some one's back.

"Hey, what..." Sheppard sputtered and jerked the cup away from his body as the coffee splashed over the rim. He had run into Collins, one of Beckett's new nurses. She had, in turn, had stopped in surprise at seeing Zelenka, a couple of the scientists from the lab, and a botanist attempting to shove a large, slimey orange-ish plant into a box that looked entirely too small to contain it.

"What's going on?", Sheppard asked as he stepped around Collins. The men didn't acknowledge that he had spoken, irritating but a bit understandable as one of the geeks had climbed into the box and was now standing half on the lid and half on the plant while the other three personal attempted to shove the active vines in around the cracks. Sheppard watched for a minute, then turned back slightly to face Collins.

"Do you think we should call someone?" Collins voice wavered a bit as she looked at Sheppard.

"Nah, they look like they have things under control." He smiled at her, which turned into more of a smirk as she blushed slightly and looked away. Zelenka yelled something in Czech as he sat down hard on the floor, one vine around his feet and another slapping him in the face.

Collins jumped, then looked at Sheppard "But," she swallowed, "what if it's poisonous or something?"

"These guys usually have a good sense of personal preservation about things like that. If it were poisonous they would be behind a looked door yelling for some of my men." Sheppard laughed, then watched as one of of the men pushed another in response to a suggestion that he could try a little harder hold onto the slippery vines. "Of course, if you don't mind sticking around to make sure no one ends up killing one of the others I'd appreciate it."

"Of course." Collins nodded, then jumped again as one of the vines slipped by her foot.

Sheppard made a mental note to tell Beckett to leave her off the gate team rotation as he slipped past the confusion and continued down the hallway. If she was spooked by Zelenka's latest experiment into organic circuitry he didn't want her trying to treat someone in a truly dangerous situation.

* * *

Sheppard stepped into the control room and paused, taking a deep breath. He knew Atlantis was in good hands while he was gone, he wasn't arrogant enough to believe that he was the only one holding things together. Still, he felt uncomfortable about leaving. Especially since McKay was going too. Sure , things had been quiet lately but that only reminded him of the old saying 'a calm before the storm'. But Weir could not be persuaded and, admittedly, it would be nice to kick back without any responsibilities and relax for a week or two. This assignment sounded like a cakewalk. All he had to do was babysit McKay, which on a secure base meant stopping by occasionally to make sure he ate and slept, and then touch some possible Ancient device. Wasn't like he didn't do any of that already. 

Weir's voice cut into his thoughts. "Weir to Sheppard, come in."

He reached up and hit his earpiece. "Sheppard."

"Colonel, are you and McKay ready to leave? We're scheduled to dial-up in less than five minutes."

"Yes ma'am." Sheppard walked over to her office and slid the door open. Leaning against the frame he continued, "Well, I'm ready. Haven't seen McKay yet." He grinned. Weir shook her head but before she could speak Sheppard heard a voice behind him.

"What about me? I heard my name." McKay pushed by Sheppard and stepped into the office.

"Just discussing the fact you made us miss the dial-up window." Sheppard drawled.

"What!" McKay looked as his watch. "How? I left..." His voice trailed off as read the watch, then looked up at Sheppard's face. "You, you," he stuttered, "I'll..."

"Ah," Weir walked around her desk and leveled a look in their direction. "I think I'll have them go ahead and dial now. No sense in waiting since you're both here."

Turning and stepping into the control room Sheppard stopped when he saw two large bags sitting in the middle of the floor.

"What's that?" He pointed at them while giving McKay a glare.

"My baseball card collection," McKay rolled his eyes. "What do you think it is?"

"Half of the lab equipment?" Sheppard replied.

"Whatever, it's all going." McKay waved his hand at a Marine standing by the wall. "Move these down by the gate."

"Wait a minute," Sheppard stepped in front of McKay. "You're using one of my Marines to move your luggage?"

"They're heavy and he has muscles just begging to be used." McKay answered, "You don't expect me to carry all of that by myself?"

Sheppard starred at him for a moment, then turned to the Marine. "You're dismissed." The man nodded and turned away, brushing by Dex on his way out of the room.

"So you are volunteering to carry those?" McKay asked.

"You're volunteering to lighten them."

"Hardly."

McKay and Sheppard's staring match was broken by a voice, "Wormhole established."

Dex looked at Sheppard and raised his eyebrow slightly. Sheppard paused, then nodded. Dex leaned over and easily lifted both bags.

"Everything is clear on this end as well. I'll send them through. Weir out." She turned to the men. "Take care of yourselves."

Sheppard smiled and headed down the stairs with McKay and Dex behind him. He paused as he got to the gate and turned, nodding at Weir and Dex before turning and walking through.

"Wait!" McKay let out an exasperated sigh and looked at the two bags, "now what?"

"Go on." Dex said, "I'll send them through after you." McKay looked surprised.

"Oh." He shrugged, then said "Just be careful with those." He stepped into the wormhole.

Dex waited a few seconds, grinned, then slung the two bags into the blue at shoulder height.

* * *

General Landry, head of Star Gate Command, watched as the personal from Atlantis came through the Gate. They were followed immediately after by a couple of large bags that almost knocked Dr. McKay off his feet and had reduced him to purple-faced stammering and emphatic finger-pointing at the Colonel. Landry wasn't sure why Sheppard was on the receiving end of McKay's ire, since he had come through the Gate before McKay, but he had not gotten to this point in his career by wasting energy on problems he didn't have to solve. He did, however, feel a momentary pang of sympathy for Elizabeth Weir. 

Turning to an amused Dr. Daniel Jackson, an archaeologist and member of SG:1, he said, "Take them up to the conference room, Carter should be ready for them."

Jackson nodded, "Yes sir."

* * *

Colonel Samantha Carter gestured for an Airman by the door to flip the lights. Picking up a small remote she flipped on a projector to show a satellite image of a town. "Eureka is a small, government sponsored town in the Pacific Northwest. It was created to serve as a center for American research and development under civilian leadership. The military provides security and assistance in when requested or during emergencies but has no continual presence. You will be there as outside advisers only, should anything happen." 

"Um," Sheppard raised his hand sightly, "what sort of 'thing'?"

"Anything." Carter replied, "Eureka has a higher than average incident report. Not there's any reason to think that something will happen while you are there."

McKay snorted. Sheppard and Carter looked at him, "Yes?"

"I've been to Eureka, before I worked for the SGC."

"And...?" Carter raised an eyebrow. "Nothing." McKay shook his head.

"Nothing at all."

Carter stared a him for a moment, then shruged. "Anyway," she flipped to a picture of a large, glowing form, "this device has been under study in Eureka for a number of years but only recently came to the attention of Star Gate Command. Visually, it is consistent with Ancient technology. Also, it appears to be of Earth origin, though far beyond our currently technological capabilities. However, the readings that have been taken of it are not consistent with other Ancient devices we have seen."

"In what way?" McKay asked.

"For starters, it is admitting extremely high levels of radiation on multiple spectrum's. In addition, energy bleed-off is immense, far higher than a single ZPM would account for, and steady. It seems to use a different power source." She paused to flip to another angle photograph. "Also, it has been the cause of at least one death. A core sample extraction was attempted with caused an energy spike. The resulting flare killed one of the scientists working on the project. Since then they have made little progress. Our hope is that using the technology found in the Pegasus Galaxy, coupled with the Ancient gene, will avoid a similar occurrence."

"If this is Ancient why not just have it moved to Area 51?" Sheppard asked, looking at Carter.

"For starters, moving it would raise a lot of questions. Although, General O'Neill has cleared a number of the personal for our files so you won't run into any problems in that regard. Also, since the device it has now proven to be unstable there are concerns about moving it through civilian areas."

"How about beaming it?" Sheppard shrugged, "Just picking it up and dropping it off again."

"Bad idea", McKay said as Carter was shaking her head. "Big, unstable, unknown energy source being taken apart on the molecular level and put back together again by technology invented by a completely different race? Poof." He moved his hands in the universal gesture of an atomic bomb explosion.

"Poof? Mr. Mensa IQ is using 'poof'?" Sheppard asked.

Carter cut in, "No one wants to risk it, not with the incident they had recently. Plus, the area where it is currently being held is extremely secure."

"Who's over-seeing the project?" McKay snapped his finger a couple of times, "Uh, uh... Foster?"

"No. Global Dynamics," she looked at Sheppard, "the private organization over-seeing the majority of the research in Eureka, including all the government contracts, is now being headed by a Dr. Nathan Stark." Carter flipped to a file photo of a somber man in a gray suit, "He's a..."

She was cut off by McKay's shout, "Stark? Stark is over Eureka now?"

"You know him?"

Sheppard leaned away from McKay slightly as he swung to face him. "Yes, I know him. He's an arrogant know-it-all who thinks the world can't run without him."

Sheppard heard Carter cough softly and chuckled. McKay cut him a look, "His science is faulty, he never listens, he's an idiot."

"He has a Nobel," Carter said, "and I've read several of his papers. They're not entirely right, but considering that he is working without the knowledge of we've gained from the stargate they are impressive."

"Lucky guesses maybe." McKay looked put out.

"Regardless, he is over Section 5. which means he is your primary contact." Carter sighed, "Try not to tick him off."

Before McKay could speak Sheppard cut in, "I'll keep an eye on him, make sure he's plays nice." He smirked at McKay, who gave him a dirty look.

Carter signaled for the lights to be turned back on. "Here's some files with more information on Eureka, and key personal files. You can finish catching up on your flight over." She handed them to Sheppard. "Good luck."


	3. Chapter 3

The trail of churned leaves and broken twigs curved out of sight behind a stand of trees. Something big had crashed though here, and recently. Taggart crouched and sniffed the air, he had smelled blood enough times in his hunting days to recognize the scent anywhere. He peered to his left and right, then moved forward slowly, trying to stay as quiet as possible. As he walked the wet smell of recently turned earth grew stronger, almost covering the odor of the blood, but not completely. There had been a major struggle and something had lost its life. Here and there he saw small drops of blood and tufts of fur, becoming more common as he rounded the trees. He considered calling for help, but dismissed the idea. The problem couldn't be that bad yet, it had only been a week. Give or take.

Senses at high alert. gun gripped in his hand, he pushed through the brush and looked at the scene of destruction. Some large bones and a broken scull were all the remained of the deer.

"Poor thing, you never had a chance." Taggart shook his head and frowned. This was bad. The effect must have spread further than he'd thought, he had expected to find a dead rabbit or something. Not a deer. He had to contain this before Stark found out. The project had been cancelled for months, if Stark knew he went behind his back to keep looking into it...

A sudden rustle caused him to snap his head up and swing his gun around. A few leaves on a bush moved, then grew still. Taggart shifted his gun into his right hand and arm, freeing his left hand to draw the hunting knife on his belt. Creeping forward he reached out with the gun barrel and poked at the bush, then jumped backward. The bush began to shake and then a small, furry head poked out. The squirrel stared directly into Taggart's eyes.

"Squeak?"

"No need to get hostile," Taggart licked his lips, "I'm here to help."

"Squeak."

All the bushes in front of Taggart started to shake like they were caught in a strong wind. Little heads started popping out and squeaking and chattering. Several of the squirrels jumped to the ground and stalked toward him.

"Oh bloody 'ell!" Taggart turned and ran for his life.

* * *

"So... Why, exactly, were you in Eureka before" Sheppard asked, looking across the plane to where McKay sat flipping thorough a stack of files.

"Research," McKay answered, not looking up.

"Research? Wow, now all my questions have been answered. Thank you, Mister Helpful," Sheppard said. When McKay didn't even bother to grunt in response Sheppard slowly cunched the top couple of sheets in his file into a tight ball. With careful aim he pulled his arm back and let loose, bouncing the paper ball off the sheet McKay was reading and directly into his face.

McKay jumped, then frowned. "You are so immature." He shoved the ball into the floor and snapped, "I was invited to go to Eureka after I earned my PH.D. My thesis caught someones attention and so I had four months to put my theory on particle acceleration in a vacuum to the test in one of their labs."

"And?" Sheppard raised one eyebrow.

"And that's it. I already had an American government security clearance from my contract work with the Air Force but it had to be upgraded. Even then they kept me away from half of the facility and most of the personal. Very 'need to know only' place. Did my research, wrote my paper, left. End of story." He stared at Sheppard, "Now can I finish reading this or do I need to stay on the lookout for more aerial attacks?"

Sheppard chuckled and picked up a file off the seat next him. Eureka seemed like a nice place. The pictures even looked like small-town America. Giving the scientists somewhere to live with their families close was sure to help morale and it was good security. Less people and messages leaving town meant less chances of interception. Also, it reduced the chances of kidnapping, of both the scientists and their families. And there was always the knowledge that your spouse and kids were well within the government's hand if you did something illegal. That was quite an incentive to think twice before selling that secret.

* * *

McKay blinked as he stepped out of the plane and directly into the light of the morning sun. He had always hated jet lag, but it had nothing on gate lag. He glanced at his watch as he headed down the stairs, it read 14:15. So, early afternoon in Atlantis equaled early morning in the deep of summer of the Pacific Northwest. Just great. An early breakfast followed by an early breakfast. Humans were not meant to have to put up with this. How was he supposed to focus? His train of thought was broken by a voice.

"Excuse me. Dr McKay?" A small, nervous looking man was waiting by the stairs.

"Yes. And you are?" McKay said, his tone causing the man to flinch.

"Fargo. My name's Fargo. I work for Dr. Stark, at Global Dynamic." Fargo licked his lips and looked past McKay to Sheppard, "I'm supposed to get you settled in. Show you around."

Sheppard nodded, "Great. Hope you have a large car."

At Fargo's confused expression he gestured back toward the the rear of the plane where the luggage compartment had just been opened. Not only were McKay's original bags piled inside but they had been joined by several of equal size, Carter had sent along some Asgard-influenced equipment she'd developed for monitoring Ori and Prior activity. Sheppard guessed that the pile was worth at least 20 times his entire life's earnings, even with all his special duty and hazard pay.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll have someone pick it up and take it to the lab." Fargo pulled out his cell phone and started to dial a number.

"Wait! I don't think so." McKay frowned, "There is some very sensitive, classified, equipment here. You can't just call some goons to come throw it in a truck. Some of this stuff is irreplaceable, and worth far more than you are."

"I think I know about handling equipment." Fargo drew himself up, "I've been working at Global Dynamic for years."

"I don't care if you've been working for the Queen of England, I'm not letting this stuff out of sight until it's in a lab, a locked lab, somewhere nice and safe." McKay said and crossed his arms. He watched as Fargo's faced bunched up.

"We can't go to the lab today."

"Why?" McKay asked.

"Because," Fargo cast around for an answer, "It's closed. Closed for the day. Everyone has gone home."

"It's," Sheppard checked his watch, "0700 hours and the lab is closed for the day?"

"Um, yes. A day off. For everyone. We'll go, um, on a tour." Fargo nodded and smiled, "I'll show you the diner and the library and the, um, post office. It'll be great."

Sheppard and McKay stared at him. Fargo shifted his weight back and forth a few times, then bit his lip when he noticed McKay's expression.

Sheppard cut in, "Look, why don't you call a truck and we'll get this stuff loaded. Then, you can show us the diner and we'll decide what to do over a plate of waffles. Fair?"

Fargo nodded and opened his cell phone. While he was talking softly with someone on the other end McKay turned to Sheppard,

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "Something is going on here."

"Exactly." Sheppard glanced at Fargo, "He'ss hiding something but Weir is always encouraging me to try tact. Plus, my bad cop is stuck back on Atlantis. Let's just give him a few minutes to spill."

"And my gear?" McKay challenged.

"Do you really think the US Government is letting a lot of petty thieves run around in a town so secret no one knows it exists?" He raised one eyebrow. "I think we can assume the stuff will end up where it's supposed to go."

"Whatever. But it's coming out of your pay if you're wrong"

* * *

Stark finished sealing the envelopes on his desk. Each was clearly marked with a name and a disclaimer reading,

"Eyes only. Material within classified under Pentagon statute 12286.98.56 and applicable following statutes. Unauthorized use or release of this information is classified as treason. Material within must be stored in an approved class 3 storage facility or destroyed after use."

He tapped his finger on the desk as he read over the names on the 3 files laying next to his; Henry Deacon, Allison Blake, and Jack Carter. Henry he understood. Alison he understood. And she could be useful as a distraction. But Carter? Why did Carter need to know about the Star Gate program? Furthermore, why hadn't anyone told him about the program long before this? The application possibilities were endless. Eureka should have been on the research from the start. Shielding, weapons, medical research. If he had access to the information hinted at in the files there could easily be an 100 increase in output from the labs within a couple of years. As to Section 5; well, this was an interesting development. Alien involvement would explain a lot, but all the tests run had shown the artifact to be comprised of elements and materials found on Earth. It would be interesting to hear the theory's of whoever the government sent over. At least they might give him a starting point for his research.

Stark called for a courier to drop the envelopes off and the touched his desktop to activate the computer screen embedded in it. It was time to write some letters. They had kept things from him until now for their own reasons but since he had been told there was no reason not to let Global Dynamic have some the the research. And the funding.


	4. Chapter 4

Fargo stopped the car in front of a small diner sitting in the middle of a quiet street. The neon light read "Cafe' Diem" and there were a few small wrought iron tables outside. Several folks were eating and talking amongst themselves, including a couple of kids. 

"I still don't see anything different about this town." Sheppard said to McKay. "Looks like anywhere in the country."

"Really?" McKay nodded at one of the tables, "Is that normal in Hicksville?"

It took a few seconds to register. The kids were putting on their backpacks and gathering up their stuff to leave, for school presumably, and one of them had dropped his baseball cap in the chair next to him were a man was seated. But the cap was clearly laying on the seat, in the guys leg. As Sheppard watched the kid reached though his dad to grab his hat, then jerked away as his mom tried to give him a kiss. Yelling bye to both of them he took off down the street to catch up with his older siblings.

The woman sitting at the table shook her head and shrugged, laughing. Then, she said something Sheppard couldn't quite make out and pushed a button on a small device sitting on the table. The man glowed for a moment and then disappeared. She dropped the device in her purse and stood up, then walked off the the opposite direction the kids had gone.

"What was that?" Sheppard asked.

"Portable holographic projector." Fargo answered from behind him. Walking around McKay and towards the door he continued, "Makes it a lot easier for folks to stay in touch."

"Oh yes," Sheppard said, "Everyone wants to eat with a hologram of their parent."

"Come on," McKay headed inside, "I'm starving and the food here is a step above the stuff they serve on-"

"Military bases?" Sheppard cut him off with a hard look.

"Yeah. Military bases." McKay nodded and sent Sheppard an irritated look. "Like I was saying before you interrupted me."

The inside of the diner was crowded with an assortment of people, each in their own little world. Some were talking into cellphones, others typed rapidly on laptops, still others talked to folks sitting at their table. Sheppard stared at several of them but couldn't decide if they were real or holograms. It was creepy, to not know if the people around you were really people or not.

Fargo cleared his throat, "Um... Here's a table." He gestured to one of the booths.

"Great!" Sheppard bumped McKay with his elbow in the direction of the one on the right and headed left himself. Sliding into the booth he sat on the very end of the bench and smiled, "I've got this side."

Fargo frowned and looked at McKay.

"Don't look at me. I don't slide." McKay crossed his arms.

Fargo opened his mouth, then closed it and sighed. "Fine." He slid to the back of his seat and frowned at the tabletop.

"Good morning Fargo," Vincent yelled from several tables away. "The usual?"

"Yeah." Fargo nodded.

"Oh, we have guests." Vincent walked over to the table. "What can I get for you gentlemen today?"

"Canadian sausage, the real stuff, and toast, wheat, and 2 eggs with tomatoes and spinach." McKay paused, "And coffee. A lot of coffee."

"Ok, A, this is why your PT scores are dropping. We ate a couple of hours ago." Sheppard looked at McKay pointedly, "And B, am I the only one not seeing a menu?"

"Nope," Vincent said, "There's not one. Order whatever you want." He looked Sheppard straight in the eye, "If it's edible I can cook it."

"Anything at all? Regardless?"

"Anything."

Sheppard paused, considering his options, then said, "In that case I'll have kanafih bi jabn." He stared at Vincent, obviously expecting him to draw a blank.

"Sure thing." Vincent smiled. "Coffee?"

"Yeah..." Sheppard nodded and narrowed his eyes as Vincent walked back toward the kitchen. Looking at Fargo he said, "Is this guy for real?"

"What?" Fargo looked up, "Yeah, part of our benefits package."

"So... What do you do at Global Dynamic?" Sheppard asked.

"I'm Dr. Stark's assistant-"

"How is Stark? Same old know-it-all suck up?" McKay cut in.

"Dr. Stark is a brilliant scientist." Fargo looked offended that McKay would think otherwise.

As McKay and Fargo continued to argue Sheppard tuned them out. It had taken practice but he had finally found the exact state of mind necessary to quit hearing McKay's normal prater. Of course, if the tone changed that was another matter. Certain tones of excited McKay normally meant death was eminent, others simply meant he had a new toy to play with. It had taken awhile to work out the difference. And a quiet and calm McKay was always a very bad sign. Still, not so hard once you got the hang of it.

Sheppard's thoughts were interrupted by the jingle of a bell hanging over the door. A man in a brown sheriff's uniform walked up to the bar and slumped onto a stool. He had a haggard look to his face and had skipped his morning shave. He spoke to Vincent briefly, then put his head on the counter with his eyes closed. Vincent set a coffee cup in front of him and went back into the kitchen.

Vincent brought out the food for Sheppard's table.

"Well?" Vincent crossed his arms.

Sheppard looked at the plate, everything was perfect.

"What is that?" McKay asked, jabbing his fork at Sheppard's plate. "Looks disgusting. Although, not as disgusting as his." He pointed at Fargo's cheeseburger and onion rings. "You do know it's breakfast, right?"

Fargo took a huge bite out of his burger and stared at McKay while he chewed.

"It's a little something I picked up a fondness for over in the Middle East." Sheppard grinned, "And this looks exactly the same." He looked at Vincent, "I'm not sure how you pulled it off..."

"And you'll never know." Vincent gave him a smug look and walked away.

A few minutes later the quiet was broken by a loud rendition of a Spice Girls song. The man at the the counter started awake and tried to sit up but was thwarted by the fact he was already sitting. He slid off the stool but his leg buckled and avoided falling only by catching his arm on the bar. He was frantically digging through pockets with his other hand while the song continued to play. Several of the customers started laughing.

He finally got the phone out and open, "Hello?" A pause. "Yeah, that's why I called you." He nodded, "Yeah, me too. Want to meet up at Global?" He nodded again, "Ok, 15 minutes. See you Allison." He looked around and noticed everyone staring at him. He rubbed his mouth, then held up his phone and said, "Zoey's idea of a joke." As the other diners went back to eating he muttered, "I'm going to kill her if she doesn't give me the password."

Sheppard slowly looked over at Fargo and gave him his best "I have a gun and you lied to me look". Fargo glanced back and forth and seemed to be considering his best plan of defense. Before he could come up with an excuse Sheppard got up and wen over the the counter.

"Good morning," he said. "I'm Colonel John Sheppard, Air Force." Sheppard held out his hand.

The man blinked like he was trying to get his mind back on his surroundings. He gave Sheppard a once-over, then took his hand and said, "Jack Carter. I'm the sheriff around here."

"Nice to meet you." Sheppard smirked, "Overheard you there, going up to Global Dynamic?"

"Yeah," Carter said with a suspicious tone.

Before he could continue he was interrupted by McKay, "So are we. Catch a ride?"

"And this," Sheppard jerked his thumb toward McKay, "Is Dr. Rodney McKay."

Carter glanced at McKay, then looked past them at Fargo who was still sitting at the table and back to Sheppard. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Sheppard said. "We're just supposed to be heading up that way and we seem to be having some car trouble." He tossed his head back at Fargo, "Seems he'd rather stay down here."

Carter gave Fargo a questioning look. Fargo shrugged his shoulders and looked miserable.

"Fine," Carter glanced at his watch. "But I'm running late. I we get up there and your not on the approved list you'll have to walk. I'm not bringing you back."

"Not a problem," Sheppard said.

* * *

Fargo watched through the window as the trio got in Carter's jeep and left. He pulled a phone from his packet and hit speed dial.

"We ran into Sheriff Carter. The Colonel and Dr. McKay are headed up to Global with him." Fargo winced as he listened, pulling the phone away from his ear slightly. When the angry buzz stopped he said, "What do you want me to do?" He waited, "Hello?"

"If you would like to make a call..."

Fargo shut the phone and stuck it back in his pocket. He glanced around the room, then he shrugged, sat down and continued to eat.

* * *

Taggart sat in his garage and looked at his jeep. The bottom edge of the body panels were all covered in a fine coating of tiny scratches. The wheels were scratched as well, and the tires had tiny claw and teeth marks in them. One headlight was broken out, the bumper on that side was bent, and he had a small knot on his head all from running into a inconveniently placed rock.

"Poor baby," he said as he patted the hood. "Didn't see this one coming or I would have taken your big brother over there." He looked at his armored vehicle sitting a few yards away.

Going inside he went downstairs into his lab. Bumping the mouse to turn off the screen saver he studied the diagrams on the screen for several minutes. He traced the gently sloping graphs with his finger and muttered, then scribbled some numbers out a a scrap of paper laying near-by. When he was finally satisfied he erased and re-entered a sequence of numbers, then hit the enter key.

He leaned forward and watched the hourglass slowly spin as the computer recalculated the equations. Finally, it chimed and flashed up a new graph. Taggart leaned in, then drew back and rubbed his eyes. Looking at the screen again he reached out as if to touch it and shook his head.

"Oh boy."

He ran his fingers though his hair as he turned and rushed across the lab. Behind him the jagged, nearly vertical graph lines flashed red and angry.


	5. Chapter 5

The ride toward Global Dynamic was a quiet one. Sheppard tried to strike-up a conversation with Carter several times but each time he received a minimal answer. Carter was very distracted, driving more from habit and memory then actually paying attention. And McKay didn't even pretend to pay attention, he had pulled his laptop out and started typing before they had pulled away from the curb. Sheppard finally gave up and settled back to enjoy the ride, it had been a long time since he had been to the Northwest and the area was beautiful.

Sheppard smiled as he saw a doe standing by the side of the road. The smile faded as a bit as further up the road he noticed an older man wearing camo and holding a hunting rifle. However, the man didn't appear to be hunting, instead jogging along the tree line. Before Sheppard could point him out he took off in a hard run straight into the woods. Sheppard turned to question Carter but out of the corner of his eye he saw something that made his heat jump and his survival instincts flare. His head jerked around and his eyes focused on the point where the washed-out bridge's edge met open sky. He glanced at Carter but he hadn't even noticed, and they were already on the bridge.

Acting quickly, Sheppard used his most authoritative Colonel's voice and yelled, "Stop!" At the same time he grabbed the bottom of the wheel and pulled it hard toward him. Carter had, as Sheppard had hoped, automatically hit the brakes. When Sheppard grabbed the wheel the rear end slid to the right and scrubbed along the guardrail, the sound of screeching metal filled the jeep for several seconds, then silence.

"What was that?" McKay yelled, from the backseat. "Did we hit-" He cut himself off as he noticed the sheer drop only a few feet from his window. He gulped as his face paled.

Sheppard looked over at Carter, "You OK?" Carter just stared out the windshield, then he closed his eyes and put his forehead on the steering wheel.

"Fine. Better than my jeep." Came the muffled answer.

"Your jeep? Was almost plunged to our deaths and you're worried about your jeep?" McKay sounded incredulous.

Carter looked as if he couldn't decide between laughter and anger and so settled on annoyance. "We were fine." Seeing the disbelieving looks the other two were giving him he unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out of the car. Walking around the front of the jeep he headed straight for the edge of the bridge. Sheppard realized what he was doing and jumped, "Look, let's just talk abut this. You probably hit your head..." Carter didn't even slow down. When he reached the edge he stepped out over thin air but before he could put his foot down Sheppard darted forward, grabbing his arm and pulling. But with only one foot on the ground Carter lost his balance and fell, pulling Sheppard down with him. McKay drew in a sharp breath as the two men fell into empty space.

A breath he let out a few seconds later when he realized they were not plummeting to their deaths, but were instead were laying in the air at the same level as the road.

"Ow." Carter moaned, "Did you have to do that?" He rolled over and looked at Sheppard. Sheppard ignored him and waved McKay over, "You need to see this."

McKay walked with care up to the edge and peered over. He slowly slid his foot over the edge.

"McKay," Sheppard said. "Neither of us are falling, what makes you think you will?"

"Maybe it's like those old Loony Tunes cartoons where only the guy who looks down falls. And I'm looking down." McKay said. Despite his protests he had continued to inch forward as he was talking and finally crossed the dividing line. As soon as he did an entire modern steel and concrete bridge appeared, replacing the rotten looking wood one that had been there.

"This is advanced holographic projection work" McKay said as he walked over and examined the projectors. He continued to mutter to himself as Sheppard and Carter climbed to their feet and dusted off. Carter groaned when he found a tear in the knee of his pants.

"Sorry about the jeep" Sheppard offered.

"Yeah, well, I nearly jumped out of the car the first time I came across here." He walked over to the jeep and put his foot on the wheel to gain leverage. He pulled the sheet metal away from the tire with a creak, the glanced at his watch. "Great. I'm late."

"Come on," Sheppard waved McKay over, "Time to go."

The rest of the ride up was uneventful, but Sheppard had completely forgotten about the man in the woods.

* * *

When they reached Global's front counter Carter flashed an orange security pass at the woman behind the desk and stepped aside so the other two could check-in. 

"Is Allison here yet?" Carter asked the receptionist.

"No." The woman typed in several numbers. "Estimated time of arrival is in 4.2 minutes."

"I guess I'll wait here." Carter leaned on the counter and watched McKay go through the security measures. When the woman was finished she handed McKay a red pass, Carter glanced at it, then snatched it out of McKay's hand.

"Red? How do you get a red pass?" Carter glared at McKay, then looked at Sheppard's still laying on the counter. "You too?"

"Give that back." McKay made a swipe at his pass but Carter pulled it back out of range. "Oh, that's mature." McKay said. He crossed his arms and frowned at Carter.

"I''m serious. I can think of only one reason to need a red level pass and there's no reason two men from NORAD's deep space thing-a-ma-jiggy, one who's just a pilot-" He glanced at Sheppard, "No offense", and looked back to McKay and continued, "to need one."

"Unauthorized removal of a Global Dynamic security pass from any person is a felony." Stark walked up to the group, but froze when his gaze fell on McKay. McKay raised his chin and glared at him.

"I'm Colonel John Sheppard, USAF," Sheppard stepped between the two men and held out his hand. Stark paused for slightest moment before putting a barely social smile on his face and taking it.

"Delighted." He then looked towards McKay, put made no effort to shake his hand. "McKay"

"Stark." McKay seemed equally unwilling.

Carter cleared his throat, breaking the awkward pause and attracting Star's attention.

"Don't you have someone to go arrest?" Stark asked.

"You know why I'm here, you sent the file over." The worried look he had lost talking the Sheppard came back. "Did you think I was going to just ignore it?"

Stark sighed and nodded, "I did expect you to show up." Turning to the receptionist at the desk he continued, "Send Allison and Henry up when they get here."

"Gentlemen, if you will..." Stark turned to Sheppard and McKay and inclined his head toward the elevator.

A puzzled look was on Carter's face, but he suddenly looked shocked.

"Wait!" He jogged up right behind the other's. "They... you two... the file?" He stared at Sheppard, who looked amused, then back at Stark.

"As eloquent as ever, Sheriff." Stark replied, as the elevator door slid shut.

* * *

Carter had a hundred questions he wanted to ask but he kept his mouth shut and watched the others. He noticed Sheppard did the same thing, although his focus was on their surroundings and the labs they were passing. McKay never even glanced to the side, he as intent on his civil but sharp conversation with Stark. 

When they reached the secure conference room McKay promptly pulled out his laptop and Stark pulled out his cellphone. Carter walked over to the coffee pot where Sheppard was fixing two cups.

"So... you are involved in this Star Gate thing?" Carter said.

"Yes."

"And aliens actually exist?"

"There's two on my team."

Carter blinked at that one.

Sheppard decided to help him out. "I head Gate Team 1 out of the city of Atlantis, in the Pegasus Galaxy. McKay's on it, and so are two locals, Teyla and Ronan."

"And I thought Eureka was a big secret..."

"Well, if it makes you feel better I didn't learn about Eureka until this morning." Sheppard laughed.

Just then the door slid open and two people walked in. "Allison." Carter said. She smiled at him, but it was strained. She looked over at Stark.

"Allison. Henry." Stark nodded to each of them. "This is Dr. Rodney McKay and Colonel John Sheppard, the the Star Gate program.' He turned back toward Sheppard, "This is Dr. Allison Blake and Dr. Henry Deacon, both of whom are employed here at Global."

Sheppard dropped one the cups of coffee off by McKay's laptop, then help out his free hand to Blake, "Nice to meet you."

"Same here" She held out her hand to McKay, but her smile faltered when he didn't even look at her, instead staring over her shoulder.

"Henry?" McKay sounded shocked.

"You're involved in Star Gate program?" Deacon was staring at McKay as if he was looking at a ghost.

"You two know each other?" Blake asked.

"Uh..." Deacon shook himself slightly, "Rodney was a student of mine, at the same time as Stark. Although," he looked at McKay, "I never expected to see the two of you in the same room again."

"Life is full of surprises." Stark's voice was dry.

"This does explain why you quit publishing papers." Deacon shook his head. "I had wondered what government project you had ended up working on to disappear so quietly."

"You kept up with my papers?"

"I keep up with all my more promising students. Kept up with Nathan here." Henry smiled at Stark, who appeared unimpressed with being put into the same category as McKay.

"So..." Blake smiled, "You two were classmates. Ever enter the science fair together?"

"Oh, you're funny." McKay said.

"Sometimes I thought it was a good thing they hated each other," Deacon laughed, "if they had worked together they probably would have managed to blow up the planet."

"Actually," Sheppard cut off whatever Stark was about to say, "you were right, seeing as how McKay managed to blow up a solar system all on his own."

There was several seconds of silence as everyone in the room stared at McKay.

"Half a solar system. And it's not like it was inhabited" McKay shot Sheppard an angry look

"Oh, well, that makes it okay." Carter was looking at McKay as if he expected him to push a button on his laptop and destroy Earth.

"As... entertaining as this is, I have other things to do today." Stark gestured to the table, "Shall we begin?"

"No, wait." Carter held up his hand, "You blew up a solar system?" When McKay started to protest he amended, "Okay, half a solar system. How did you manage that?"

"Well, I could tell you I but I expect the only terms you would understand would be space-station, computers, and explosion so I don't see wasting my breath."

"McKay..." Sheppard scolded.

"He does have you pegged." Stark looked smugly at Carter.

* * *

After everyone finally settled in at the conference table Stark ordered the lights to dim and Sheppard did a quick overview of the Star Gate program offering tantalizing bits of information but nothing concrete. Then Stark covered the history of the Artifact; where it was found, when, basic test results. McKay and Deacon slowed things down considerably, throwing in their opinions on the issue and then arguing the point into the ground. Even Blake seemed to be keeping up fine and had her own opinions on sub-space quantum flow and random quarks. Carter was quickly left behind as the conversation flowed away from aliens and space-travel and to spacial physics and particle behavior. 

His only real consolation was that Sheppard had also lost interest and kept dozing off. No one else had noticed but Carter had learned the art of sleeping with his head up and his eyes half open while in college and could recognize someone else doing the same thing. As much as he hated to admit it, It was something of a relief when his cellphone blared to life, although the ring tone was even more embarrassing with Stark staring at him. Carter snapped it open to silence it, then covered the mouthpiece with his hand.

"Henry, you've got to fix whatever Zoey did to my phone."

Deacon laughed and shook his head.

"Hello?' Carter put the phone to his ear. "What? Slow down." He listened for a few more seconds. "Jo, what is all that noise? I can hardly hear you." Everyone in the room could hear faint sounds coming from his direction. "Wait, the school?" Carter got up, "Attacking? What is attacking?" He started toward the door, then stopped. "What? Are you sure-" He pulled the phone away from his ear, "Okay, yes, of course you're sure. I'm on my way, just keep everyone inside and away from the... problem." He flipped his phone closed, then noticed everyone in the room staring at him.

"Um..." He looked embarrassed to have to continue, "There seems to be a problem at the school..."

"How bad is it?" Blake looked tense, running worst-case scenarios through her mind.

"I think I can handle it... It's some... uh... squirrels..." Carter sighed. "I've got to go."

"Of course." Stark bit his lip to keep from smiling.

"See what I meant about being an odd town?" McKay whispered to Sheppard, who had gone on alert when he heard the word "attack".

"Hm... As interesting as this discussion has been," Sheppard got to his feet, "maybe I could be of some assistance with your... situation." He looked to Carter.

"Sure," Carter shrugged, "Why not?"


	6. Chapter 6

Hey y'all! I'm not a big author's notes person, I avoid them like the plague. However, I need to make a couple of things clear. One, I am working without a beta so I know I have some inconsistent spellings of names and some grammar issues. I am planning to do a rewrite and clean all of that up when I get the story finished. Two, I am at college and so I have very little time to write. However, I am planning to finish this and want to thank y'all for hanging on so long. Also, I have every intention of speeding it up, but every time I think that I'll have the chance something else happens. Real life has not been kind to me lately. Three, this story is set in season 1 of Eureka and season 3ish of SG:A. This means that my ideas about the Artifact in no way match the current cannon. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"So, I have to ask," Sheppard looked over at Carter, "do you often have to deal with cute, furry little animals attacking schoolchildren? Not that I'm complaining, anything is better than being stuck in that conference room any longer."

"This is a first, but it is Eureka. I'm not discounting anything being a threat." Carter glanced at the speedometer and sped up a little, "I, well, a bunch of us, we were nearly killed by my house." At Sheppard's look he continued, "We're on great terms now, SARAH loves me. But it has made me a bit more... careful." He failed to notice Sheppard eying him carefully after that last pronouncement. "Plus, it was Jo who called."

"Jo?"

"Yeah, my deputy. She's not the sort to get rattled easily, I've seen her face down power-mad super geniuses and freaky ice tornadoes without blinking."

"Ice tornadoes?"

"It's a long story."

The two men rode in silence for a few minutes before Carter spoke up, "So..." He looked at Sheppard expectantly. After a pause he said, "Come on. There has got to be some freaky stuff out there. Don't tell me you've meet aliens and traveled to other worlds without seeing some crazy stuff."

"More than I care to remember," Sheppard shook his head, then smiled. "Once our city once tried to kill us."

"The city?"

"Yeah, Atlantis is pretty cool but she has her own ideas about keeping us safe."

"Tell me about it! Every time I come down with a cold I have to talk SARAH into letting me leave."

Sheppard started laughing, "Atlantis isn't quite that bad. But Carson can be, he's the doc assigned to the expedition." Sheppard paused and thought, "Then, of course, there are always fun surprises on new worlds like angry natives and evil bugs and nauseating bog pits filled with man-eating plants."

"Please don't give the botany department any ideas."

Before Sheppard could answer Carter pulled into the schoolyard. It was eerily empty but otherwise rather normal looking at first glance. As they got closer, however, the details were disturbing. Paint and wheels were scratched on a number of the cars. Several of the tires had been chewed all the way through and flattened. As they walked up the sidewalk the last leaf off one of the shrubs around the school entrance floated across their path. The doors had been scratched all the way down to silver along the bottom foot or so, tiny paint flecks littered the rubber mat that lay there. Well, what was left of it. Large hunks were completely gone. Most disturbing was a small collection of blue feathers and bits of fur blowing against the brick wall of the building. The one thing neither man saw was a squirrel.

Carter reached out and pulled on the door. When he was unable to open it he rapped on it with his knuckles. "Jo?"

"Is there any wildlife in the vicinity of this door?" A woman called back, her voice tense.

"No..." Carter said.

There was the sound of a bolt turning and the door swung open. A short but well-muscled woman in a uniform matching Carter's stood there. Her uniform had blood drops splashed across it and a small cut on her forehead had left a trail of blood to her ear. She was holding her service revolver in her hand, and looked past the two men and scanned the parking lot before lowering the weapon.

"Who's this?" She jerked her chin toward Sheppard.

"Ah, John Sheppard, he's Air Force... Jo, are you ok?" Carter asked.

"I'm fine, most of this isn't mine."

"And it belongs to..." Carter trailed off.

Lupo pointed. All along the hall were bits of fluff and gore, and several bullets holes.

"You shot the squirrels?" Carter looked put-out, "They're so... cute."

"Not these." Lupo replied. "These are possessed. They are behaving in an organized fashion and highly aggressive."

"Are the kids ok?"

"Yes. I got them all into the fallout bunker under the gym."

"What happened to you head?" Shepard asked.

"One of the teachers thought his aim was sufficient to hit a small, quickly moving animal with a stapler at 25 feet-"

She was interrupted by the door swinging open again, Taggert staggered in out of breath. He had his rifle clutched in one hand and a data pad in the other.

"You." Sheppard pointed at him, "I saw you in the woods earlier."

"Yeah," Taggert took a deep breath, "Yeah, I was looking for something." He looked down the hall, then noticed Lupo. "Jo-"

She cut him off, "I'm fine."

"Taggert, why do I get the feeling you know what is going on here?" Carter put his hands on his hips.

Taggert looked away and tried to think of an excuse. Carter didn't give him the chance.

"Taggert..." His tone was a warning. "People are getting hurt."

"Aye." Taggert sighed and deflated a bit. "None of this was supposed to happen."

"I've found that when a scientist-" Sheppard paused and looked at Taggert, raising his eyebrow. Taggert shrugged. "-or whoever, says 'This wasn't supposed to happen' then generally it could have been prevented if they had checked with the people in charge of making sure things are a good idea before they are done."

"Amen." Carter's comment drew him Taggert's stare. "Still, that doesn't tell me what happened..."

"It'll be easier if I show you. Come on back to my lab." Taggert turned and headed out the door.

Lupo and Sheppard looked at Carter, who shrugged and followed Taggert out of the building.

* * *

"So, I'm guessing that the graph we're looking at is bad." Carter said.

"Aye, it is." Taggert pointed at a spot about halfway across the screen. "This is where we are. If the... infestation, continues at this rate we'll hit critical in about 38 hours."

"Critical?" Sheppard looked less than pleased by the word.

"They'll be past the point of containment."

"What will be past the point of containment?" Carter crossed his arms, "I want an answer now."

"The squirrels."

No one said anything for a minute. Then Jo spoke up, "Taggert, those squirrels are vicious, what did you do to them?"

"It was an accident, I never meant for them to be affected." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "It's the nanites. When Stark ordered me to give up my research I couldn't do it, I was too close to the answer! He was being unreasonable."

"Unreasonable?" Carter sounded incredulous, "Those things nearly killed us!"

"But it wasn't there fault. They just had a flaw in their programming, all they needed was a second chance. So, I brought them down here." Taggert gestured to his lab. "I have a full containment system, it was perfectly safe. And, just to be sure I species-synced them to rats only, so they couldn't take over any other lifeforms."

"Then why am I standing here?" Carter's tone was low and dangerous. "There are people at risk because you couldn't give up an experiment."

"I know."

Sheppard stepped forward and looked more closely at the screen. "This is more McKay's department, but can't you just turn them off? Or hit them with an EMP?"

"They stopped responding to commands as soon as they jumped species, and they are EMP protected."

"How did they jump species?" Carter asked, "I mean, you said they could only get into rats."

"That was the plan. But every rat I put them in died within a few minutes, lost a couple of my best boys." Taggert looked heartbroken at the thought, "I quit to work on re-witting the programming."

"And?" Sheppard asked.

"I deactivated the nanites, then buried the boys out back." Taggert sighed, "But now the graves are empty and the nanites are in the squirrels. I must have miscalculated one of the DNA markers and synced them to the wrong species."

"Well, there's got to be something we can do." Carter gestured at the lab, "What in here will kill them?"

"Nothing. The only option is to disrupt their communication like we did before at the party. But getting sound equipment out into the woods will be difficult."

"Before?" Sheppard asked Carter.

"Yeah, before. It's a long story but it turned out that cranking up the bass made them fall apart, into nanite dust." He looked at Jo, "Maybe we could get Henry to put some big speakers on the jeep."

Jo looked less than certain of the idea but before she could speak her radio squawked. "Jo, you there?"

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

Vincent's excited voice replied, "There is a pack, or is it a herd... a flock-"

"Vincent!"

"Yes, yes. Well, whatever they are there are a lot of squirrels running down old country road 42. And they look very angry."

"Where are you?"

"Up at the old fire tower helping set up a telescope. Thought I'd give you a heads-up. Oh wait, they just headed into the woods towards the creek."

"Stay where you are and do not, for any reason, get in their way. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

Carter took a deep breath and said, "Sheppard, you're with me. Taggert, you and Jo follow in your tank-thingy. It's time for us to get a look at what's going on."


	7. Chapter 7

McKay followed Stark into a room filled with banks of computers and several large plasma screens on the walls, each covered with data. The thick steel door hissed shut behind him, effectively locking them into the windowless space. Claustrophobia caused his stomach to churn and the hair on the back of his neck to stand up but McKay forced the feeling down. He had made it living under a mountain in Colorado, he could certainly make it here as well.

"Here's our research data, about 5 years worth. Henry can walk you through it." Stark gestured to one of the computers sitting apart from the rest, "Have fun."

"Wait," said McKay, catching Stark's attention as he turned away. "I want to see it first, take some readings of my own."

"That's unwise, unless you want to join the last scientist who went in there. She was killed drawing a core sample last year," said Stark.

"And the artifact has been much less stable since then." Henry added.

"Wait, wait, wait. Back up. Did that really seem like a good idea?" McKay stared at Stark.

"At the time. We had exhausted all other resources."

"So you decided drilling a hole in was a good idea?" McKay was incredulous. "If it had been a naquada generator Lake Eureka would cover most the western United States."

"Naquada?" Deacon asked.

"It's an ore mined on some worlds that can be used as an energy source, highly unstable. We use it in some of our ships, and as a back-up gate power source." McKay pulled an energy reader out of his pocket. "I'm here to figure out if this is Ancient and to do that I need to get a reading on it. With this." He shook the reader at Stark.

"Very well, doesn't hurt me if you're wrong." Stark turned and walked to a door set in the far wall.

"Nathan," Henry scolded, as he followed McKay over. Nathan pulled open the large door to reveal several radiation suits hanging inside.

"Put one of those on, press the green button once you're ready. We'll let you through, same procedure that the other end of the tunnel. If you survive, come back down here and stay suited until after the decontamination cycle has run." Stark gave McKay a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "Good luck."

McKay kept up the fearless front until after he had been locked in. Pushing the green button caused a crackle to come across his headset.

"It's not too late..." Stark's voice tickled his ear.

"Just open the door," McKay snapped. He was already sweating from the suit, and nerves, and had no interest in Stark's little power plays.

When the second door opened and he saw the artifact churning and twisting his breathe caught in his throat. It was beautiful, in a deadly sort of way. "It's... it's not exactly like anything I've seen before, but it certainly looks Ancient." He took a couple of steps toward it and started tapping on his sensor.

"Careful there, Rodney. You don't want to get too close, even in that suit." Henry's voice buzzed against McKay's ear, "It dumps radiation across a broad spectrum."

"Huh, that's odd." McKay tapped more quickly on his pad, "My readings aren't showing that. I'm getting only minor radiation, and only on a few spectrums. Not much worse than standing outside. But this has got to be Ancient, the last time I was energy readings like these was on PR-763 and that turned out to be some sort of alien copier."

"A cloning device?" Nathan cut in.

"No," McKay snapped, "A copier. But instead of paper it copied objects. Useful, but we don't have the energy to run it. By the time I figured out what it did the ZPM had run down."

"ZPM?"

"Not now," McKay snapped. He slowly circled the object, taking readings and muttering in half phrases under his breath. He seemed oblivious to the passing of time.

"Rodney, you need to get out of there. It's been almost fifteen minutes." Henry's voice was concerned, "Much longer and you're going to need anti-radiation treatments." When there was no answer he spoke more loudly, "McKay, get out!"

McKay jumped, "Yes, yes. I'm coming." He took one more slow swipe with his reader, then turned and headed back to the access tunnel.

As soon as he stepped into the room Henry started running a small, round handheld over him.

"What's that?" McKay frowned, bothered by the intrusion into his personal space.

"It's a medical scanner, to see if you've given yourself a dangerous dose of radiation or not."

"I don't think there's any radiation." McKay turned his scanner toward Stark, "Look."

"It's broken," Stark said. "There is radiation pouring off of it, look at the readouts in here."

"Do you think I didn't think of that? I ran a diagnostic, it's working perfectly."

"Or it's so faulty that the diagnostic is useless."

"These scanner is highly advanced, alien technology. If anything in here is faulty it's your equipment."

"Gentlemen." Henry crossed his arms and glared at both of them. "This is pointless. We need to go over all the data before we start throwing accusations around."

Stark looked at his watch, "As much fun as that would be, I have several appointments this afternoon. Henry, I trust you can keep him out of trouble?"

McKay bristled, but Henry spoke up first, "We'll be fine."

* * *

McKay's cell phone shrill ring startled him, making him jump. Henry looked up from the computer he was at going through old data from when the Artifact had just been discovered. McKay glanced at the id before answering, "Yes?"

His brow drew together, "Wait, did you say nanite squirrels?" Henry took a sudden interest in the conversation. "No... Look, I'm busy-" A buzz came from the phone, causing McKay to pull it away from his ear. "Really Sheppard, I have no idea and I'm right in the middle of-" He tapped his fingers against the desk until he could jump in again, "Use an EMP." A beat, "Oh. Well, call the SGC and get one of their Replicator guns, I'm sure it could handle a few electronic squirrels. If you're done wasting my time I have my own problems here." A shot of surprise crossed his face, "Sheppard, wait-"

McKay sighed and shut his phone, putting it back down on the counter. At Henry's inquiring look he said, "Apparently the squirrels here are infected with nanites and are rampaging through the woods."

"Maybe I should call Jack," Henry said, reaching for his phone. "He's probably stressing out by now." He smiled and chuckled, "He really hates when experiments get out of hand." He paused and his brow creased, " Although, I'm reasonably sure Nathan put a stop to all nanite research after our last adventure."

McKay went back to staring at his screen. As many times as he went over the numbers they just didn't line up. Eurekas computers were telling him that the radiation levels were lethal, even a moment of exposure would be enough to kill a healthy adult. And yet his scanner, double-checked by a full diagnostic on the laptop, was assuring him that the radiation was safe, minimal and mostly harmless. Certainly nothing to worry about unless you planned on sleeping in the same room as the thing.

And his setup from Atlantis was telling him the same thing. The bags of equipment had been necessary, never mind Shepard's protests to the contrary, but he couldn't force his information to line up. Half of it was telling him one thing, half another. Suddenly he froze in place, a look of astonishment crawled across his face. Scooping up his laptop and scanner he headed over to where Henry was still on the phone, "Henry!"

Henry held up his hand to silence him, "Ok Jack, but call me if things get worse. Bye" He slipped his phone into his pocket, "Jack seems convinced by whatever Colonel Sheppard has told him about the," Henry gestured with the universal movement for quotes, "ray gun, he's getting from the SGC."

"It'll work," McKay said dismissively. "We had our own nanite infestation, but they were a bit more homicidal than yours." He jerked his head at the airlock, "More importantly, I need to go back in there."

"Rodney, it's dangerous. You've already been exposed-"

"I don't think so."

"The readings are clear," Henry smoothed his face into a more calming expression. "How about we take a break, get some air, eat something."

"No, no, no. I figured it out. The radiation readings are a decoy, they're fake." McKay pointed at a graph on his screen. "You can see the scanner readings here. It's an Ancient device and so the Ancients scanner can see through the illusion. The odd energy patterns at the top of the wave-lengths most be the decoy energy to create the false readings."

Henry looked doubtful, "If, and I'm not saying you are, but if you are right, then why? Why make us think this is too deadly to even get near if it's not."

"Who knows? Protecting it, keeping looters away, maybe the energy is just a side-effect of whatever it's doing." McKay shoved his computer onto the nearest table, sending papers flying off the other side. "The point is, I think I prove it once and for all. I just need to," he paused, "to take a reading on a band I missed before." When Henry hesitated he pushed harder, "I'll be out in two minutes, tops."

"Fine. Two minutes, got it?" Henry shook his head and muttered under his breath as he started the computer program for the airlock, "You and Nathan are more alike than you know."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Once McKay entered the chamber he walked straight toward the glowing orb.

"Rodney," Henry's voice was worried, "What are you doing?"

"I have an idea." He was within range of the bands of light that played across the surface of the metal, several flickered around him without actually touching him.

"McKay, get out of there before you get killed." Henry considered calling Nathan, but decided he would only add to the problem.

"I'm fine. Believe me, I have a very strong sense of self-preservation." He stepped closer to the device, examining it. "I was right! This is Ancient, it has text all over it." He silently mouthed out the symbols, then said, "It's some sort of power-giving, or power-making, machine. It says something about reaching into the space behind..." He voice trailed off and he reached out his hand.

"No!" Henry shouted. "I had a friend killed by that thing, I don't want to see it happen again." But it was too late, McKay had already touched the surface.

There was tense few seconds, then McKay came over the headset, "I'm fine. But it's not responding to my gene, it must be the suit." Sighing, he started to slowly run his scanner over the surface of the sphere, "At least I can get a copy of these inscriptions and work on a full translation."

Henry didn't speak again until McKay stepped into the control room, and he stood directly in front of him, "If you ever lie to me again about an experiment I'll have you removed from the premises. Permanently. I don't care who you're working for."

McKay started to protest before he saw the expression on Henry's face. He stared him down for a minute but when Henry didn't give he deflated a bit, "Fine."

"Let's go," Henry signed out of his computer. "I was serious about us getting out of here for a little while."

McKay's immediate reaction was to argue but then he noticed how badly his hands were shaking, and his headache, from not eating lunch. So instead he slipped his phone and scanner in his pocket and followed Henry out.


End file.
